Lukas 3:8

3:8 Therefore produce ¹  fruit ²  that proves your repentance, and don’t begin to say ³  to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ ⁴  For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ⁵ 

Lukas 19:22

19:22 The king ⁶  said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, ⁷  you wicked slave! ⁸  So you knew, did you, that I was a severe ⁹  man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow?

Lukas 23:14

23:14 and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading ¹⁰  the people. When I examined him before you, I ¹¹  did not find this man guilty ¹²  of anything you accused him of doing.

[3:8]  ¹ tn The verb here is ποιέω (poiew; see v. 4).

[3:8]  ² tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit” (so NIV; cf. Matt 3:8 where the singular καρπός is found). Some other translations render the plural καρπούς as “fruits” (e.g., NRSV, NASB, NAB, NKJV).

[3:8]  ³ tn In other words, “do not even begin to think this.”

[3:8]  ⁴ sn We have Abraham as our father. John’s warning to the crowds really assumes two things: (1) A number of John’s listeners apparently believed that simply by their physical descent from Abraham, they were certain heirs of the promises made to the patriarch, and (2) God would never judge his covenant people lest he inadvertently place the fulfillment of his promises in jeopardy. In light of this, John tells these people two things: (1) they need to repent and produce fruit in keeping with repentance, for only that saves from the coming wrath, and (2) God will raise up “children for Abraham from these stones” if he wants to. Their disobedience will not threaten the realization of God’s sovereign purposes.

[3:8]  ⁵ sn The point of the statement God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham is that ancestry or association with a tradition tied to the great founder of the Jewish nation is not an automatic source of salvation.

[19:22]  ⁶ tn Grk “He”; the referent (the nobleman of v. 12, now a king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:22]  ⁷ tn Grk “out of your own mouth” (an idiom).

[19:22]  ⁸ tn Note the contrast between this slave, described as “wicked,” and the slave in v. 17, described as “good.”

[19:22]  ⁹ tn Or “exacting,” “harsh,” “hard.”

[23:14]  ¹⁰ tn This term also appears in v. 2.

[23:14]  ¹¹ tn Grk “behold, I” A transitional use of ἰδού (idou) has not been translated here.

[23:14]  ¹² tn Grk “nothing did I find in this man by way of cause.” The reference to “nothing” is emphatic.